Kelli is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as she documents her journey through the CPA Exam. She has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since April 2011.
Hello CPA studiers and exam takers,
It has been a long while since I have written anything. Why? Well, because I have been diligently studying, of course.
My Audit exam is on Monday the 22nd, and for the first time, I find myself in a place where I have never been 4 days out from the exam actually reviewing. Its kind of weird for me, so much so that yesterday, after studying from 9am-7pm with ½ hour for lunch and an hour for dinner in the middle, I quit at 7pm. I have NEVER done this.
But I feel like since I took these last 2 days off from work, and I have the weekend that I dont feel the pressure to kill myself and stress out. We went for a 2-mile walk last night just before the fantastic thunderstorm that blew through, as a family. Wait what? I have a family and they are still talking to me? By George, YES!
Today I decided to start studying an hour later, going down to the basement in a few minutes to tackle more MCQs and simulations. Yes, this time around I have really focused on the TBS because this has been my weak point every time I have taken this part.
I feel more comfortable working through all the words to get to the point, and reasoning my way through the solutions if I get stuck or dont understand. There really is a skill in taking a TBS that I think is lost on a lot of people. Not so much to memorize a particular problem, but in the problem solving aspect itself.
Lately, I dream about financial ratios and solving them related to audit steps because, yes my friends, there are bits and pieces of FAR that come to say hello in the audit exam. In fact, if I were an advisor, I would say if you had to choose between taking FAR or Audit first, take FAR because there is some spill over that will drag you down if you are not prepared for it in Audit.
For this last week I have had both books out, FAR and Audit (Which by the way once I passed FAR, I never wanted to see that book again, but fortunately the bonfire will be one glorious event. The box is waiting and ready so I still have that book lol).
I have found it necessary to run through some basic journal entries (again, not another one of my strong points) and ratio analysis and income statement and balance sheet presentation items, to make sure I have a clear understanding of how it all ties together.
I have enjoyed the Audit CRAM from Yaeger, so I have been able to zero in on some small weak areas I still had with Audit. Now it is just practice, practice, practice. Rather than a notebook, I have been taking notes on note cards when I have needed to, which has been working out much better for me.
Im only writing down the stuff I am having trouble remembering, not every piece of information I see on a page. That has been an issue for me in the past, writing TOO much. Now I feel like I have just enough.
All in all, for the first time ever, I am going in to an exam feeling like I might have a shot, and its weird and scary, and I am not sure if I am being tricked. I guess I will find out sometime in mid-September. All I know is, right now, I am getting through the weekend, taking the exam Monday and then going on a long camping trip to with a big bottle of wine.
Cheers!
Good luck tomorrow!!